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Movies / On DVD / Kafka
Kafka

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Kafka (1992)

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Reviews Counted:20

Fresh:12

Rotten:8

Average Rating:5.5/10

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: Steven Soderbergh's follow-up to the hugely successful SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE is a dark thriller that follows a fictionalized realization of the influential writer Franz Kafka. Set in the early... Steven Soderbergh's follow-up to the hugely successful SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE is a dark thriller that follows a fictionalized realization of the influential writer Franz Kafka. Set in the early 20th century, the film begins with Kafka (Jeremy Irons) as a reclusive aspiring writer who works as a clerk in a huge, impersonal insurance company. When a colleague disappears under mysterious circumstances, Kafka's search for him leads him to an underworld of evil and corruption. At first he encounters Gabriela (Theresa Russell), a mysterious coworker who attempts to recruit him into her underground revolutionary organization, but his extreme sense of individuality won't allow him to join their group. As the days progress and Kafka receives the promotion that was intended for his colleague, his search leads him to a guarded mansion that turns out to be the cause of the city's rash of recent deaths. Soderbergh shoots KAFKA in an atmospheric black and white that adds tension to the already edgy mystery, shifting to color once Kafka enters the building in order to contrast the worlds even more. As the introverted Kafka, Irons is the definition of an unassuming man who finds himself caught up in a world that is far beyond his control. [More]

Starring: Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell, Joel Grey, Ian Holm

Starring: Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell, Joel Grey, Ian Holm, Jeroen Krabbe, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Alec Guinness

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Director: Steven Soderbergh

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Kafka

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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No review available.

comment Comment
06/12/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
01/31/03
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A stimulating blend of biography, hypothesis, interpretation and afterthought. It's a story about the 20th century.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

Soderbergh does demonstrate again here that he's a gifted director, however unwise in his choice of project.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
10/08/03
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

No review available.

comment Comment
11/20/07
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Quite often, the visual feast is enough to hold audience attention. But, in the end, it all feels rather empty.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Hicks
Chris Hicks
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

the film has a shallow, sophomoric earnestness

comment Comment
06/10/05
Douglas Pratt
Douglas Pratt
DVDLaser

Lem Dobb’s script doesn’t rely on comprehension or linearity, but the whole scope of the project has its compelling root.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
10/09/01
Greg Muskewitz
Greg Muskewitz
eFilmCritic.com

Soderbergh's sophomore jinx, a pastiche of styles (noir, German Expressionism) and themes (creativity, personal and political oppression) at the center of which is the vastly miscast Jeremy Irons as the Jewish writer involved in a senseless murder mystery

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
01/29/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

comment Comment
06/29/05
Jon Niccum
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World

One of Soderbergh's most fascinating films.

comment Comment
11/05/03
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Steven Soderbergh's Kafka is a very bad well-directed movie.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

All the Kafka basics are there for the literary types to muse over and it has great entertainment value in its unpretentious playfulness.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/02/07
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Incomprehensible but interesting.

comment Comment
01/05/04
Mark Robison
Mark Robison
Reno Gazette-Journal
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
05/12/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

No review available.

comment Comment
09/17/02
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
San Francisco Examiner

A movie about Franz Kafka? It's a good idea for a microsecond. Then it dissolves into a dumb proposition.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment 1 Comment
01/01/00
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
 
 
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